Knightswitch
by Romantic Twist
Summary: Ted Knight  Starman of Earth-Two  awakens to a confusing telephone call which leads to dramatic changes in the DC Multiverse timeline.


Note: This story starts in 1973, in the continuity of DC comics as written at that time. That is to say, that the DC Multiverse existed, including Earth-One, Earth-Two and Earth-Prime for example. The story discounts the Crisis on Infinite Earths, as though it never happened.

1973, EARTH-TWO …

Starman had been patrolling over the city alone. He'd enjoyed the days since the Justice Society of America had come out of retirement. As well as that, he'd enjoyed the occasional team-ups with Black Canary and her husband Larry Lance. Then Larry had been killed during an adventure involving both the Justice Society of America and their Earth-One modern counterparts the Justice League of America. Grieving badly, Black Canary had accepted Superman-1's invitation to move to Earth-1 and join the Justice League for a fresh start.

Now the nocturnal flight came to an end. Starman had encountered no need for his star stick that night. He flew into his apartment unnoticed, and removed his costume. Now he was Ted Knight, astronomer. Ted Knight put on his pyjamas and climbed into bed.

Having been out half the night as Starman, Ted slept in quite late, until he was awoken by a telephone call. To his surprise, Ted opened his eyes to find that the telephone was in another part of the room, not where he had positioned it. Furthermore the entire room looked different. It had different furniture and curtains. He had to silence the noise of the telephone before he could think about his confusion.

He answered it.

"Ted, we thought you'd be in by now. We've still got several segments needing your attention," said the voice at the other end of the line.

"Segments of what? Who is this?"

"Joe, who else? The guy who's been paying your salary since you got back into the voice casting business. We've got to get this episode of The Super Friends finished this week. Now get yourself in here."

What on earth was happening, Ted wondered?

"You'd better humour me, Joe. I'm feeling a bit off. Where's here?"

"Hanna-Barbera studios," said Joe, and gave him the address, "I'm Joe Barbera, just in case you've forgotten that too. You really must have had yourself quite a night."

"I don't think I'm fit to drive," said Ted, unable to explain that he'd never heard of Hanna-Barbera studios, "Can you send a taxi here, and take it out of my wages?"

"If you say so. We'll see you soon."

Ted Knight got dressed, in a suit that hardly suited his style, but was the only style available in the unfamiliar wardrobe. He waited for the taxi and was taken to a television studio. The streets that he saw on the way there were unfamiliar, yet not that different in architectural style to those of his home town. When he reached the studios, he was taken to a sound recording room and shown some cartoon footage, and handed a script, with his name pencilled on the front page next to the word "Narrator".

The cartoon showed Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin and Aquaman, as well as two children named Wendy and Marvin, and a caped dog named Wonderdog. Superman's chest S emblem looked a little different. Wonder Woman was wearing a tight pair of bathing suit shorts with the same blue background and white stars design that Ted Knight remembered adorned the skirt worn by Wonder Woman. Batman had a yellow elipse around his black bat symbol. Then he watched some completed footage with his own voice actually narrating. He was surprised to hear Aquaman pronounced as "Uquaman."

"That's it!" said Ted, "I'm on Earth-One! When did you guys start making cartoons about the Justice League, and what's Robin doing there? He's a Teen Titan. Those other kids I've never heard of."

"Earth-One?" said Bill Hanna, the other partner of Hanna-Barbera, "This is just Earth, and we've only loosely adapted the characters from the DC Comics. Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Batman are all straight from the Justice League of America comic, but we didn't think our younger viewers would want to see Batman and Robin separated. We had them together in last year's New Scooby Doo Movies, and we've kept the same voices of Olan Soulé and Casey Kasem. I thought you knew all this before you took the job."

"Comics!" thought Ted, "This must be a world where Earth-One's Super Heroes are only comic book characters somehow attuned to the lives of the real ones on Earth-One. The makers of these cartoons have taken a lot of license and changed things dramatically with this Super Friends concept. I'd better find out more, without letting these guys know I'm not their Ted Knight, who must be a voice actor in this dimension."

"Are you just going to stand there like a stunned mullet?" asked Bill.

"What about Wendy and Marvin and Wonderdog?" asked Ted, "You'll have to fill in the gaps. I seem to have massive amnesia."

"It must be amnesia. You should have known. It goes back to what you were doing in the 1960s. Lou Scheimer of Filmation studios cast you as the narrator of the Superboy stories in 1966, when they made The New Adventures of Superman with Clayton Bud Collyer voicing Superman and Clark Kent in the Superman stories. Then in 1967, they expanded the show to The Superman / Aquaman Hour of Adventure. They still produced two Superman stories and one Superboy story per show, but also two Aquaman stories (with Aqualad), which you narrated. You voiced most of the villains too. There was one more segment in each episode, which had a rotating cast of guest heroes: There were solo stories of Atom, Flash, Hawkman and Green Lantern. Kid Flash appeared in two out of the three Flash stories and also joined Aqualad and Wondergirl and Speedy in the Teen Titans stories. They couldn't use Robin, because the live action Batman show had the rights to him. There was also a Justice League of America in three episodes of Superman / Aquaman Hour of Adventure, which had Atom, Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern and Superman, who was again voiced by Bud Collyer. Aquaman only appeared on the beginning theme of that segment. You narrated everything except the Superman stories. At that time we were creating our own super powered characters here, like Mightor, Birdman, Space Ghost and The Galaxy Trio. One year down the track the networks decided all these super hero shows were too violent and canned them. The do gooders lobbied the government to pass a law requiring every Saturday morning cartoon to be about kids (and often a dog) with no powers at all. We suspect that they had lived on a steady diet of Enid Blyton books, and so we adapted the four kids and a dog formula from Enid's Famous Five into our own concept of Scooby Doo. Then we just reinvented the same formula every year with Josie and the Pussycats, Funky Phantom, and so on. To make Scooby Doo more interesting, we tried throwing in guest stars with familiar voices last year, and you did the Joker and Penguin's voices in the two adventures where Scooby Doo met Batman."

"I'm going to need an alka-seltzer," thought Ted.

"After the Batman and Robin guest appearances in the New Scooby Doo Movies, we did our best to bring back the DC Super Heroes long since abandoned by Filmation, when we watered them down as The Super Friends, but the do gooders insisted we throw in the kids and the dog as usual. So Wendy and Marvin and Wonderdog were created to adapt the Scooby Doo formula and pad out hour long shows with antics and blundering. Now we need your narration to finish the shows, Ted. It's voice work. You don't need your memory. Just read the lines and put your charismatic voice to work."

"Just as well I've got the other guy's voice," thought Ted, "I wonder where the local Ted Knight's hiding out."

EARTH-TWO …

While Ted Knight-2 was adjusting to Hanna-Barbera's demands on his time, Ted Knight-Prime (the missing voice actor of Hanna-Barbera studios) also awoke in an unfamiliar room. He started exploring it and found a super hero costume and a strange stick.

"Maybe Bill and Joe are pulling a prank after all those voices I've done for them lately," thought Ted.

Suddenly a man came vibrating through the walls at super speed.

"Wow!" said Ted, "You do that just like the Flash, only your costume looks more like that Blue Bolt character's, that I voiced in one of the Flash guest star segments in the Superman / Aquaman Hour of Adventure for Filmation six years ago."

"I don't know what you're trying to say, Ted," said the man, "You know me as Jay Garrick, the Flash. I came to accompany you to the Justice Society of America meeting. Now get your costume on and see if that star stick of yours can help you keep up with me."

"What?" said Ted, "I help make cartoons about guys like you. The only Flash I know wears an all red outfit with a head mask and wings like the one on your helmet, and a few yellow lightning bolts and boots and gloves."

Jay Garrick pondered for a moment. Ted had just described one of his closest friends, the other world Flash of Earth-One, yet as a cartoon character.

"You're talking about Barry Allen," said Jay, "Of course you know him. He's been on lots of adventures with me, and a few with the whole Justice Society when we teamed up with the Justice League each year."

"I know about the Justice League of America. I narrated their stories, and I'm doing a similar project called Super Friends now. The Flash even guest stars in one of the episodes, called Too Hot to Handle. Actually, I recall Bill saying they were going to use you, but decided it was more suitable to use the modern Flash. Wasn't it funny how Speedy and Wondergirl appeared in those old 1967 Teen Titans stories years before Green Arrow and Wonder Woman turned up on Super Friends. The sidekicks came first on TV sometimes, not like the comics."

"You think you're a voice actor?" said Flash-2.

"I know I am. I don't know how you did that vibrating trick, but I have noticed this room looks odd. Certainly not the way I left it last night," said Ted.

"There's only one explanation," said Flash, "You must be from a fourth parallel earth. We've encountered Earth-One, where the Justice League of America operates. We helped them fight the Crime Syndicate of America on Earth-Three. This is Earth-Two. You must be from an earth where the counterpart of our Ted (Starman) Knight voices cartoons about the Earth-One Super Heroes. You'd better come to Justice Society headquarters with us and work this out. It'd be faster if you did try using the star stick. Do you feel up to it?"

"You're saying I'm on another world, where I have a twin who's a super hero?" said Ted, "I'll try anything once. It can't be harder than trying to get it on with Mary Tyler Moore."

"I wonder if Superman has days like this," thought Flash, as Ted Knight-Prime slipped into the Starman costume.

"What do I do with this thing?" asked Ted.

"You have to hold it like this, press here, from what I've seen Ted do, and then you just float into the air," said Flash.

"Like this?" asked Ted, and accidentally fired a blast from the star stick.

Flash dodged it at super speed.

"Not exactly," said Flash, "Try again."

Ted finally managed to levitate himself a little.

"Look, I don't think I can master flying with it yet, but the rod could make me light enough for you to whiz me to your headquarters at super speed, if I levitate with it," said Ted, "You do have the same powers as the Barry Allen Flash, don't you?"

"Basically yes," said Flash, "Let's try it."

Eventually they reached Justice Society headquarters and filled the others in.

"Power ring, can you shed any light on how this could have happened?" asked Green Lantern.

"He's blond instead of brown haired," thought Ted Knight-Prime, "And he's got a red shirt and a cape that's purple at the back and light green at the front. I'll bet he's not even a Hal Jordan. The network censors on my world wouldn't even understand this."

"I have stored information dating back to the 1950s, which you never asked for in the past," said the power ring.

"Tell me now," said Alan Scott, the Green Lantern of Earth-Two.

"There is a strange relationship between this Ted Knight's home world Earth-Prime and the other Earths, which enables the more creative minds on Earth-Prime to mentally think up their comic book and cartoon stories based on events that are actually happening on worlds such as Earth-One and Earth-Two," said the Power Ring, "In the1930s and 1940s and 1950s, they wrote about the things that happened on Earth-Two. In the early 1950s, a warped man on Earth-Prime named Wertham discovered a dimensional doorway to Earth-Two and met his own counterpart Wertham-Two, whose tendencies were highly paranoid, as he worked for the American government on Earth-Two. Working together they learned of this creativity relationship and formed a partnership. Wertham-Prime would campaign against the influence of comic books on Earth-Prime, while Wertham-Two would be active in the government, to pressure the Justice Society to either unmask or disband. Their two fold plan was highly successful, until the mid-1960s on Earth-Two, when the Justice Society came out of retirement and on Earth-Prime, when Filmation studios began producing cartoons about the Earth-One Superman and subsequently the other members of the Justice League of America. By then the two Werthams had been unable to inaugurate a second round of their anti-Super Hero crusades, and lived reclusively on their own worlds. Yet their dimensional doorway drifted for years until present day 1973, where it has somehow switched the two Ted Knights while they slept."

"But there was no sign of a warp or doorway when I woke up," said Ted Knight-Prime, "I was just in somebody else's room and couldn't make out anything."

"It's closed up again," said Flash-2, "Even my vibratory powers didn't enable me to tune in on it, because I thought you were our Ted and didn't notice anything out of the ordinairy at first. I've travelled to Earth-One with my powers, but I couldn't shift us all to your world. I wouldn't even know which way to go."

"What about you, Green Lantern?" asked Superman-2, "Could your ring get us to Earth-Prime to look for our Ted Knight?"

"Both Hal Jordan and I have used our rings to bridge the dimensions before," said Green Lantern, "I should be able to."

"Wait on a minute," said Ted, "If you guys just pop into my world and start flying and flashing around, my people will finally understand why the Seventh Day Adventists adopt the Biblical view about the dangers of drinking alcohol. They'll think they've flipped."

"Not at all," said Superman, "I probably shouldn't go. Since Clark Kent is as well recognised on your world's fiction as Superman, I'll stay behind. You can wear regular clothes. Green Lantern and Flash and Atom and Hawkman can go as Alan Scott and Jay Garrick and Al Pratt and Carter Hall. That should be a good undercover team and you can take them to your own work place, where I hope they'll find our Ted Knight. From what you've told us, I've chosen those of our membership who have counterparts on your voice casting resume."

"They do, but the Atom I narrated is only six inches tall and has different powers. His identity is Ray Palmer. Hawkman doesn't look that different, except for the mask."

"We've met Ray Palmer and Katar Hol," said Superman-2, "Our Atom has full size and super strength. Our Hawkman isn't from Thanagar. You'll get used to them."

The selected members of the Justice Society of America changed into their civilian identities, while Ted Knight-Prime did the same.

Soon the team made their way through the dimensional barrier and into Earth-Prime. Ted Knight-Prime led them to the studios, and waited for the end of the working day. When they observed Ted Knight-Two coming out of the studios, Al Pratt approached him alone.

EARTH-PRIME …

"Al? Do you know me on this world?" asked Ted Knight-Two.

"I'm from your world," said Al Pratt, "The Justice Society's here, along with the guy you replaced. We'll go to the alley, and then Green Lantern can take us to his apartment to clear things up."

Later, in Ted Knight-Prime's apartment.

"Here's your fancy threads and your flying stick," said Ted Knight-Prime, "I sort of had an accident with it in your place. You might want to get your curtains redone."

"Thanks," said Ted Knight-Two, "From what you've explained, Green Lantern, those Werthams really left a rotten legacy."

"I'll say they did," said Green Lantern, "I'd better check that we've fixed everything. Power Ring, are there any more side effects resulting from the appearance of the Wertham Gateway?"

"Not in present time," said the Power Ring, "However, I have the ability to look into the past or the future. The Wertham Gateway has not been fully sealed. It has closed to the point of being effectively invisible, but is still in this room, and capable of drifting, reopening years later and creating more dimensional anomalies. If it is not sealed permanently by the power of this ring, it will reopen in 1985 and create the Crisis of Infinite Werthams, where the twisted minds of an infinite number of Werthams from all parallel earths will manipulate the creativity relationship to merge all of the earths into one. Countless people, including many super heroes will be lost for no purpose. History will be rewritten. The damage will not end there. Many characters will face the sickest tragedies in their lives, ironically suffering from the very violence that Wertham-Prime fought against. The Wertham Gateway must be totally sealed forever now."

"Then do it," said Green Lantern, "Locate the Wertham Gateway and seal it completely and forever."

Alan Scott watched as his ring sought out a tiny pin prick sized opening in space and closed it. The Wertham Gateway could never expand again. It was no more.

"We have disturbed the continuum a bit," said Flash-2, "It would be interesting to know what will happen in the multiverse now, which would not have happened if the Crisis of Infinite Werthams had been allowed to proceed."

"Let's get back to our own world," said Hawkman-2.

EARTH-ONE 1973…

Larry Lance had been dead for over a year. Black Canary had been in her 20s in her original Justice Society of America days on Earth-Two. She was now in her early 40s, fifteen years older than the Earth-One Green Arrow. However, something had caused her to age slightly slower than people on Earth-One did, giving her the appearance of being in her mid to late thirties. It had been commonplace for members of the Justice Society to age gracefully, hiding their advanced years in bodies that still looked and felt somewhat youthful. Maybe it had been a side effect of all the supernatural encounters that the Justice Society members had experienced over the decades. Dinah Lance still looked older than Oliver Queen, yet not as old as she was.

Oliver was not sure how long to wait after Larry's death, before asking her out. In the end, he took the plunge.

"I'd love to go out with you, on a few conditions," said Dinah, "That you shave off that beard and moustache and go back to wearing a costume like the one my world's Green Arrow wore in the Seven Soldiers of Victory, and that you stop talking more and more like a punk each day."

"I'm sorry about that," said Oliver, "I guess I felt a little bitter after I lost my fortune. When Speedy got more involved with the Teen Titans, I distanced myself from the past with the new costume… Boy I'm tactless. Here's me going on about trivia, after what you've …"

Dinah had been thinking. She also wondered if it was alright to date again at this point, but she decided it would be best to grab a handsome and interested younger man, while she had the chance, before someone decided to rewrite history to have her die in the 1950s and be replaced by an identical young daughter for Oliver to date instead of her.

"It's OK," she said, "My memories of Earth-Two are all happy."

Oliver kissed her. She responded happily.

"What was it like in the JSA's golden hay day?" asked Oliver.

"I wasn't in the original team. I actually came in about 7 years later, when they were starting to act more like a team on assignments, instead of seven or eight individuals having formulaic solo adventures in a common cause. In my time, Atom began manifesting super power that he picked up from an encounter with Cyclotron. I hung out with Johnny Thunder a lot at first, but then came Larry and Johnny distanced himself. And before you ask, there was never anything between me and your counterpart."

"Yet you go for me?"

"We never really met. The Justice Society of America and the Seven Soldiers of Victory knew of each other's existence. The whole world did. But they never once crossed paths and teamed up. It's ironic that we didn't and yet ended up on crossover adventures with your world's more modern team once a year. I might have gone for him, I guess. He might have gone for me, but you needn't worry. It's you and me on Earth-One. I'm glad you found the courage to ask me."

"Would you like to see a bit more of Earth-One city life in the 1970s?" asked Oliver.

"Lead on," said Dinah.

He took her to a Star City disco, both of them incognito without their Justice League costumes and danced well into the night.

Robin and Batgirl (alias Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon respectively) had begun to find themselves in more adventures together. At the end of one of these adventures, Robin said, "Batgirl, why don't you just go back to whatever you do, when you're not wearing that costume?"

"The nerve of him," thought Batgirl, "He's parroting Batman's early objections to my taking on this role. He is so cute though."

Batgirl suddenly kissed Robin.

"Wow!" thought Robin, "What a kiss. The earlier Batgirl was my age. This one must be eight years older, and drop dead gorgeous, and she was a big help. Why was I trying to squash her crime fighting career. I listen to Bruce a little too much."

Batgirl swung away, but they soon found themselves teamed up again. At the end of that adventure, Robin sat down on top of a building.

"Batgirl, can we talk?" he asked.

"What's on your mind?"

"I'm sorry about what I said last time. I guess you were just showing me how immature I can be, when you gave me that kiss. Sometimes I do let Batman's unappealing traits rub off on me. He took me in after my parents were murdered, even helped me nail the killers in the end."

Batgirl put her hand on Robin's shoulder.

"It's alright, Dick."

"Dick? Oh, I guess it is … Barbara."

Without asking how they learned each other's identities, both of them laughed.

"I guess I just … didn't want to lose you, like I lost my family. A mistake in this job could see you permanently injured. I've liked working with you, and I enjoyed that kiss more than anything, since I first put on this outfit. What I'm saying is, it would be nice if you were able to overlook my teenage tactlessness and possibly … consider making that kiss the starting point for something special."

Batgirl was not unmindful of the humility and the sincerity that Dick Grayson had just shown her. The other blatant fact on display was that he was downright cute. However, she wasn't going to make things that easy.

"At my age, I'm not going to be your sidekick, you know?" said Batgirl.

"Maybe I could be yours," said Robin.

"What would the Dark Knight say?" said Batgirl.

"He's teaming up with a different super hero every month. The Dynamic Duo are pretty much old news. Besides, if I wanted another female companion, I'd have asked Wondergirl out years ago, before Speedy got the chance, or made a move on Lilith. I've always liked you, Barbara. I just thought you were out of my league, that you'd discount a teenager. So I subconsciously echoed Batman's commentary to hide my true feelings."

"Do you mean all this?"

"Sure I do. When you first came on the scene, I thought Batman would go for you. I was really quite jealous."

"And I thought he was trying to keep me away from his protégé," said Batgirl, "The truth is I think you're rather cute. So I took the best chance to kiss you, while dressing it up as a lesson in maturity."

"I need to be mature, not come across as the younger kid waiting for her to take the lead," thought Robin.

He took the initiative and kissed Batgirl. For both of them, this time it was motivated only by love.

The Teen Titans never broke up. Neither did Speedy and Wonder Girl. Starfire and Raven never came to Earth. The New Teen Titans were never formed as such. Hawk and the Dove did lose their powers for a time, until they resolved some of their philosophical differences.

The Doom Patrol never died. Beast Boy joined the Teen Titans. Victor Stone never had the accident that led to his becoming Cyborg. However, his father did invent an exosuit which gave Victor much the same powers. In time, he became Cyborg and joined the Teen Titans wearing a full metal face mask to hide his identity. Kid Flash remained a member. At the age of 20, he started dating 32 year old Tina McGee, who had left her violent ex husband. They married when he was 23.

Iris Allen never died. Aquababy was still killed because of Black Manta, but Mera and Aquaman held onto their marriage nonetheless.

On Earth-Two, when Infinity Inc was formed, Power Girl and Huntress stayed on as regular members. Power Girl's Kryptonian origin was never questioned. Batman-2 had still died in the late 1970s. (Back in the 1940s, The Golden Age Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman had continued to live out Earth-Two's original timeline, and the Young All-Stars was never formed).

Supergirl's romance with Brainiac Five became more intense, and she never died. The Anti-Monitor had been unable to draw enough warped mental energy from the minds of the Werthams, and could not start any events to cause a Crisis of Infinite Werthams, since the Wertham Gateway had been sealed by Alan (Green Lantern) Scott's power ring. The Monitor fought the Anti-Monitor in secrecy and won. The multiverse would continue, with the Anti-Monitor unable to spread the false rumour that the many universes had always been meant to be one and blame the discrepancy on Krona's attempt to learn the origin of the universe.

Dick Grayson became Nightwing and left the titans to the leadership of Hornblower, as Dick's relationship with Barbara became more serious. She was never crippled by the Joker. Jason Todd became the New Robin and eventually joined the Teen Titans. He was never killed by the Joker.

At one point, Jade learned how to mimic her father Green Lantern-2's ability to transport people to other Earth's. She brought Infinity Inc to Earth-One, where they helped the Teen Titans on a case. They then invited the Teen Titans to Earth-Two for a visit. While there, Jason Todd met a beautiful woman in her 30s named Gaby. They spent the entire duration of the Teen Titans' time on Earth-Two indulging their romantic affections for each other, and then Gaby told Jay something vital:

"I'm engaged to someone else, who's due back here soon, and you're due back on your world when the Titans go."

"Then why lead me on?" asked Jason.

"I never knew him when he was your age," said Gaby, "He never took on the role you did, because the original Robin of our world is still Robin. His name's Jason Todd."

With Jade's help, Jason Todd-1 left Earth-Two with the Teen Titans, heartbroken that he had lost love to his older counterpart of another earth, someone who'd never be known as a super hero there, but who would marry Gaby.

Batman still broke from the Justice League for a while and formed the Outsiders. Looker retained her powers and appearance, and was ultimately abandoned by her husband. She eventually began dating a shy civilian who had admired her for years.

The Teen Titans found themselves on a case with the Outsiders, and Jason Todd came to a startling realisation.

"Halo's the Gaby of this world!" he thought, "She's my age!"

Without telling her of his encounter with Gaby-2, Jason courted Halo and they began a long and happy relationship.

Eventually Batman left the Outsiders and rejoined the Justice League, which did not break up. Then something unexpected happened in the Caped Crusader's life.

Silver St Cloud (Bruce Wayne's former girlfriend who had guessed his identity and found the danger too much to live with) was kidnapped by the Joker during one of his psychopathic episodes. The Joker swore to kill her as an example to Gotham of whatever sick point his warped mind was trying to make at the time. Silver waited in terror for the moment to come, and then it didn't. She was rescued at the last second by Batman.

"I'm sorry, Bruce. I thought I could avoid the dangers you fight, by avoiding you. Yet if you hadn't continued as Batman, I'd have died anyway. I was never so scared, and your convictions kept me alive. I'll accept every part of the man I love now," said Silver.

Bruce Wayne and Silver St Cloud would never be parted again. Hawk and Dove regained their powers. Hawk wanted to go it alone. Dove rejoined the Teen Titans and began dating Lilith.

After Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) was occupied on an assignment for the Guardians of the Universe, and failed to save Ferris Aircraft from a super villain's attack, Carol Ferris told him to choose between her and the Green Lantern Corps.

After much thought, Hal came to her room in his civilian clothes.

"So much of what we've been through was brought about by your hypocrisy," said Hal, "I chased you for years, but you were determined to be Ferris Aircraft's feminist leader, pushing aside any romantic thoughts for me. Yet you swooned over Green Lantern even then, rejecting me. You ripped my heart out for years when you went off with Jason. Now, true to your hypocritical nature, you expect me to abandon the only part of my life that drew you to me in the first place, just because I obeyed the Guardians instead of getting exiled from earth for another year, which would have kept us apart longer. When Green Arrow was with us regularly, you put a plane ahead of an innocent man's lost life in your thoughts? When have your priorities ever been right, Carol?"

She stood there frozen. Hal felt he may have gone too far.

"No," he thought again, "I'm saying what I should have said years ago. If she'd been sweet, shy, feminine and supportive, and consistently there for me, we'd have married years ago, instead of having one drama after another."

"So are you really going to leave me for the Corps?" asked Carol.

All of the arrogance had suddenly vanished from her tone, and her eyes. His words had stung, but they had carried so much truth. In those few seconds, she had realised what they could have had, if she'd acted differently in the past.

"I'll offer you a similar choice," said Hal, "Do you choose me or running Ferris Aircraft? I think we've both taken on too much extra responsibility that's kept us from advancing as a couple."

He had her with that argument. Yet he was willing to put her ahead of the Green Lantern Corps, a role that gave him worldwide fame and membership in not just the Green Lantern Corps but the Justice League of America. Could she make the same choice for him.

"I guess I'll have to promote a successor," said Carol.

"I always avoided letting all that out," said Hal, "I didn't want to…"

"I'm sorry for everything. Let's make it work from now on."

So John Stewart became the new Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814. The humbled Carol Ferris never went off the rails as Star Sapphire, but married Hal Jordan instead.

In the 30th Century, Timber Wold and Light Lass were still unable to resolve their differences, when Light Lass rejoined the Legion of Super-Heroes as Lightning Lass. She made her moves on Cosmic Boy's younger brother Magnetic Kid, and in time the boy began to notice girls enough to take particular notice of Lightning Lass. Superboy remained a part-time member of the team, and was never killed by the Time Trapper, who was still defeated by an arranged encounter with the Infinite Man. With the multiverse still in place in the 30th Century, the Time Trapper never interfered with Superboy's origin, never separated it from that of Earth-One's Superman and found himself facing Superboy, Mon-El, Brainiac Five, Supergirl, Rond (Green Lantern) Vidar, Ultra Boy and the Infinite Man, until both the Time Trapper and Infinite Man still cancelled out each other's existence.

The Legion's timeline was never rewritten. However they did have one interdimensional encounter with Brane Taylor, the futuristic Batman of Earth-Two, who modelled his career after that of the original Earth-Two Batman Bruce Wayne.

All of the changes brought about by the sealing of the Wertham Gateway (and the resulting prevention of the Crisis of Infinite Werthams) spilled over onto Earth-Prime too.

Filmation Studios never went out of business, and continued to provide All-American animated cartoons. There were no attempts made to draw Caucasian Super-Heroes with brown tans, no attempts to ridiculously exaggerate the differences in the sizes of men's and women's bodies, and Filmation regained the rights to the DC Comics characters after Super Powers Team concluded in 1985 at Hanna-Barbera.

Tuneless Heavy Metal and Rock Music soundtracks never gained their stranglehold on DC Super Hero television cartoons, as Filmation saw to it that the music styles of their 1960s and 1970s cartoons were brought back in abundance. The Batman, Superman, Justice League, Batman Beyond, Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon serieses were produced by Filmation instead of Warner Bros, although with Bruce Timm still doing much of the writing. Instead of the spin-off Zeta Project, an Infinity Inc series was made.

And as for Wertham-Prime? He bought himself some Enid Blyton books and learned how to enjoy life.

13


End file.
